Heart of Stone - Book 2: Hearts Collide

Stone’s face heated up with embarrassment along with Aubree’s.

“Sorry,” Stone said. “Hector likes to tease sometimes. He’s ecstatic that we found each other, but he understands the circumstances. Still, lycans with a sense of humor can’t help teasing those who found their mates and are still in the early bonding stages. Mates come around so rarely that they jump at the chance.”

Aubree nodded in understanding. “The first time I met him and Rose at Vincent’s, they were casually talking about you and me as if we were already together. It was kind of awkward... but sweet. They really care about you.”

“Lycan bonds are strong,” Stone said. “Very little can break them. Hector and I are cousins and once belonged to the same pack. Our pack bond is broken, but we still share a blood bond. We will always feel a sense of brotherhood, even though we no longer run side by side.”

With a sigh, he smoothed his pulled back hair with his hand. “They were trying to plant the idea in your head at Vincent’s, like feeding tidbits might help you to realize the pull of the matebond.”

“I felt something, yes, but I didn’t know it was something like this,” Aubree confessed, feeling almost shy about it.

Back then, she had absolutely no idea how deeply connected she was to Stone. If someone told her before that she and Stone were soulmates, she probably would have laughed.

“I know.” Stone gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

There it was again. That invisible lasso tugging on her heart and pulling her toward him.

He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, inhaling deeply. Mirroring him, his earthy scent filled her senses and calmed her.

“Let us go inside,” he whispered after a few minutes.

She nodded before climbing out of the car, feeling hungry now with the prospect of food within. “I want a big fancy latte with whipped cream and caramel drizzle—and Hector’s paying for it.”

Stone raised his eyebrows in question.

The corners of her lips curved up. “He ruined our moment back there. He owes me.”

Stone chuckled as he held the door open to the café for her.

Aubree found Hector grinning from a nearby table, shaking his head lightly.

She walked up to him and set her hands on her hips. “You heard me.”

He feigned innocence. “I heard nothing. My ears were shut.”

“Bull. You owe me one large caramel latte and I won’t take no for an answer.”

Hector held back his laughter as he rose from his seat and followed her to the front counter. “You got a pushy one there,” he remarked to Stone behind her.

“I wouldn’t come between her and coffee if I were you.”

Aubree could feel Stone’s eyes on her and the grin on his face as her heart swelled with warmth. She eyed the food options on the menu overhead before placing her order, a chicken Caesar salad, happy to have Hector footing the bill.

Stone ordered a small coffee and a club sandwich with extra bacon. Hector added it to the bill.

They returned to their table and waited for their food to come. Stone took the seat next to her and held her hand, while Hector sat across from him.

Aubree took in the brightly lit space. The twenty or so tables were half full of people already and she noticed more coming in with the lunch rush. The place was sure to be packed soon.

As she shifted her weight in her seat, Aubree tried to think of something to talk about with Hector. “So, Rose went back to Rosenrot?”

Hector nodded, his face turning serious.

Aubree turned to Stone in question. Where did Hector’s sense of humor go so suddenly?

“It’s the matebond,” Stone said. “He misses her.”

“I don’t know how you managed a century without Adelaide,” Hector murmured under his breath. “This is the longest I will have been away from Rose in fifty years.”

Stone leaned back in his seat. “You’ll feel her during the full moon. Distance won’t matter then.”

Aubree watched Stone’s reaction to Adelaide’s name, but he was calm. Not even a flicker of pain reflected within her from their connection.

“I’m going to call her.”

A knowing grin spread across Stone’s face as he looked at Aubree. “The physical distance between them is so great now that they cannot reach each other through the mind-link. It’s as though he’s a lovesick puppy now.”

“Speaking of lovesick puppies...” Hector was about to say but trailed off when their coffees were brought over to their table.

Aubree noticed the young waitress checking the two guys out, but they completely ignored her as Hector lifted the phone to his ear, and Stone was looking down at Aubree’s hand as he stroked her thumb with his. She left without uttering a word.

Stone continued his soft caresses in silence while Hector spoke softly on the phone in a foreign language. He closed his eyes as he spoke, his brows knitting together.

Reaching for her latte with her free hand, Aubree lifted the paper cup to her lips to taste her delicious treat. Closing her eyes, she hummed her satisfaction before setting it back down on the table.

“You’re a coffee fiend,” Stone whispered.

“Which makes me easy to please with all these coffee shops in town,” she replied, flashing him an impish grin.

“I love you more,” Hector said into the phone, his face looking like that of a teenage boy, shining with glee. “No, I love you more.”

Aubree felt her cheeks warm at the sight of Hector. It was hard to imagine these tough-looking men melting into puddles of mushiness for the ones they loved. It was downright adorable.

“You’re too much,” she said as he hung up.

He sighed, looking at the small phone in his hand with longing. “I miss her voice already.”

The food came out then, and Aubree and Stone began to eat. Hector had ordered nothing for himself and insisted he was fine when Aubree questioned him about it.

After finishing her meal, Aubree excused herself to go to the washroom. She needed to use the facilities and touch up her lip-gloss before they left to meet with the North Fang Pack and the vampire slayers. Nervousness followed her to the washroom down a narrow hallway, but she reminded herself to relax. Stone and Hector were with her and together they would make sure nothing would go wrong.

As she grasped the doorknob for the bathroom, a hand reach out from behind and covered her mouth. A sharp smell filled her senses and before she could react, darkness took her.